I have read a lot of posts about single moms, working moms,and stay at home moms. Reading posts about people that aren't in your situation will yield a bit of sympathy if their life is harder, or a tinge of jealousy that you don't get some of their perks.
There was a group of women all talking together on our beach vacation last week about being moms. We laughed, I cried (when did I become such a big crybaby??!!) and all shared stories about our good times and bad in parenting. Even when sharing stories with people you actually know it is easy to feel a little jealous depending on the situations. The one word that had me over analyzing my entire situation was "shine". She shines at her job. She is important, necessary, and great at her job, and it makes her shine. I quickly did an inventory in my head and couldn't think of very many things that I do now at this SAHM role that I can shine in.
To be fair, my house is kept clean, there aren't dishes in the sink, and my laundry is usually done. All except that stupid last load STILL sitting in my dryer from Monday! I just run out of steam by that last load. I guess it just gives me a good starting point for next Monday. I prepare meals for my family. Well, most days. Ok, some days. I think I'm making my point even better now. If the original response was that I shine at being a housewife, yeah, ummm, occasionally.
I'm getting off topic. My whole point is that if you break down these three roles - working, home, and single they all have their fallbacks as well as their perks. I am going to try and mention a few that I have noticed from personal experience.
The working mom. Not the single working mom, this is just a married woman that has a job and is a mother.
Perks:
You get a paycheck
You probably have adult interaction and conversations
You have the opportunity to shine
(Side note- it doesn't matter if you are a doctor at Children's hospital or a cashier at the local Walmart, to me, shining means that you take true pride in your job and perform it like it is the best job in the world.)
Fallbacks
A lot less time spent with your family
Stress from work distracting you from your family
Missing things for/with your kids due to work
Obviously both points have more but I'm not a working mom so I can't speak to that much more.
The stay at home mom. Not to be confused with the work from home mom, she will get her own blog when I finally become her.
Perks: so many. Really. A lot.
Fallbacks: so many. Really. A lot.
The single parent.
Perks:
You make all the decisions
Your child is your top priority
Fallbacks:
You make all the decisions
Your child is your top priority
To better explain, you are responsible for making all of the decisions, but sometimes that is a lot of pressure in deciding what is best for your child.
Your child is your top priority, but you are the only one that makes your child a top priority.
The main point that I am trying to get across is that if you are friends with a single parent, reach out to them. Offer them a safe place to discuss important decisions. Make a day that they can be your top priority and just love on them. Pray for them. Encourage them. It is through these bonds with all mothers that we can all shine. We all need to shine sometimes. We also need our kids to see us shining so that they grow up knowing its importance. Kids have it easy, they get to shine just by being so darn cute.
